Nanti language
Arawakan language spoken in Peru
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nanti is an Arawakan language spoken by approximately 250 people in southeastern Peruvian Amazonia, principally in a number of small communities located near the headwaters of the Camisea and Timpía Rivers. It belongs to the Kampan branch of the Arawak family, and is most closely related to Matsigenka,[2] with which it is partially mutually intelligible.[1]
The language is also sometimes called Kogapakori (variants: Cogapacori, Kugapakori), a pejorative term of Matsigenka origin meaning 'violent person'.[3]
Phonology
Consonants
The phonemic inventory of Nanti is typical of the Kampa languages and of the Arawakan family as a whole, although there are some differences. The table below does not include allophones, but Nanti's system of allophony is a distinguishing feature of the language.[4]
Nanti exhibits a lack of symmetry in the stop series; while there is a voiceless /t/, there is no equivalent voiced /d/. This asymmetry is common among the Kampa languages.[6]
Vowels
Nanti has a vowel inventory typical for the Arawakan languages except for the diphthong /ɯi̯/, which Michael argues is monomoraic.[7]
